UN General Assembly 67th session: Statement delivered at the General Debate - the Gambia

A statement delivered to the 67th General Assembly annual General Debate by the Vice-President and Minister for Women’s Affairs of the Gambia, thanking her partners for the support they have rendered to her government in striving to deal with drought and crop failure from the past year in the Sahel. She called on the international community to do more to render more support to the agricultural sector of the affected economies and urged for the role of the small scale farmer to be boosted. She also suggested to fast track the numerous agricultural initiatives that have been announced in order to support African agriculture through global partnerships and to make agricultural systems across Africa more resilient in terms of inputs, technological know-how, scientific research and the setting up of training institutions. "The African farmer ought to benefit from modern farming techniques and technology," she said.